SNM Coalition With Mingistu-”The Leader of The Communist Party in The Horn”

The world intellects, philosophers, thinkers, politicians, economists and artists, all agreed on the principle that ”it is easy to change the physical state of a country, but it is difficult to change the ideological or the mental state of a person”. Because the roots of some ideas still vegetate and expand into the next generations and so on continue in centuries.

After the second world war, followed by the free-independent treaties and the end of the colonialism age. Then a new era of political turmoil erupted between the communist and the capitalist world with intense ideological challenges followed by civil wars erupted between governments and movements. During that times it was compulsory to form alliance either with the capitalist or the communist groups. It was also a criminal offence to be a member of communist groups in the western metropolitan cities.

During the cold war, it is for certain that the Somali National Movement became familiar to be called the term Calan-Cas is a Somali interpretation of (Red Flag Generals). Back in seventies and eighties, SNM were directly under the command of Mingistu Haile Marian, the leader of the communist party in Ethiopia, both SNM and Mingistu allied to fight against the Democratic Republic of Somalia and to the capitalist world.

We cannot deny during that times, Mingistu funded the SNM and built rebel’s camps and armed them with heavy weapons. Mingistu also implemented communist strategies and ideologies within this movements, finally, Mingistu and Silanyo both signed a bilateral agreement which was to recognize Somaliland as independent communist country in return of destroying Somalia and also in return of harshly fighting against the transformed capitalist leader in the horn president M.Siaad Barre. Then, the idea of isolation and disintegration of Somaliland from Somalia has been planted and founded by Mingistu in partnership with SNM, while SSDF-Puntland rejected this idea of separation, and the leader of SSDF and the former president of Somali Transitional Government, President Abdillahi Yousuf, has been immediately arrested in Ethiopia.

The end of 1990 and the beginning of 1991, Mingistu and Siad Barre both lost the war against the rival movements, such as Siaad Barre versus communist movement SNM. The same as Mingiustu versus capitalist movement led by President Melez Zenawi. Finally, both presidents M.S.Bare and M.H.Selase fled to Nigeria and to Zimbabawe. But the footprints of their clashing ideological turmoils still remained in the region, which at the end scaled up to civil and terror wars.

Immediately, after the civil wars, Ethiopia kept its identity and its unity, as they agreed to form federal government and applied democracy, the rule of law and spread of justice towards its regions and to its provinces. While, Somalia turned the wheel back into a tribal-bloody civil wars between different clans as well as between different ideological groups, which lasted more than three decades.

In conclusion, If Mingistu has stayed on the ruling seat of Ethiopia, then the idea of disintegrating Somaliland would have been implemented and realized by now. This means Melez coming into power with his western capitalist alliances was unfortunate and shocking for SNM (the current ruling party Somaliland, which is used be callled as Calan Cas or Red Flag).